New Brunswick gold for Freewest

Freewest Resources (FWR-V) continues to retrieve high grades from the rocks of southwestern New Brunswick.

The latest results from its Clarence Stream gold property — which sits 70 km southwest of Fredericton and 10 km east of the Mount Pleasant tin-tungsten-molybdenum-indium facility not only expand its knowledge of what it calls the “Deep” zone, but also hits upon an entirely new zone.

That new zone returned highlight intersects of 17.25 grams gold per tonne over 5 metres, 3.86 grams gold over 4 metres and 26.6 grams gold over 0.5 metres in three separate holes.

In Toronto on Apr. 30 the Montreal-based company’s shares were up half of a penny to 30.5 on 687,215 shares traded.

Freewest anticipates that drilling both zones along strike and to depth will add to its mineral resource which it is trying to work up to 1 million ounces by the end of this year.

But drilling won’t be limited to just those two zones. The company says drills are set to test other areas along the mineralized trend that stretches over 15 km. One key area along that trend is the East zone where past drill results returned 12.51 grams gold over 3 metres and 12.45 grams over 4.5 metres.

Most of the drilling along the trend has been above the 100 metre level Freewest says.

To help fund all the drilling, Freewest is turning to its joint venture partner St-Andrew New Brunswick-based Rockport Mining. Rockport is spending $3 million on the exploration program but Freewest remains the operator.

Past drill results from the Deep zone were highlighted by 7.98 grams gold over 12 metres in one hole and 7.11 grams gold over 5 metres in another.

Freewest says the Deep zone has thus far been traced over a strike length of 550 metres at depths ranging from 200 metres to 450 metres below surface and the zone remains open-ended along strike and at depth.

Mineralization in both the Deep and the new zones are similar and are made up of a high-strain zone in quartz veins, quartz stock-work and disseminations, hosted within biotite-cordierite hornfels as well as microgranite and gabbro dikes and sills.

The new zone runs parallel to the Deep zone and lies just north of it within its hanging wall. The zone is being tested over a strike length of 650 metres and to a depth of 300 metres — it is also open along strike and to depth.

Rockport can increase the 30% interest to 50% by spending $4.5 million on exploration by 2011, and can reach as high as a 65% stake by funding the property through to a feasibility study.

Freewest has working capital in of roughly $9 million.